Hockey

The aim of this study was to analyse the kinematic sequencing in the penalty-corner drag-flicks of elite male and female field hockey players of international calibre. Thirteen participants (one skilled male drag-flicker and six male and six female elite players) participated in the study. An optoelectronic motion analysis system was used to capture the drag-flicks with six cameras, sampling at 250 Hz. Select ground reaction force parameters were obtained from a force platform which registered the last support of the front foot. Twenty trials were captured from each subject. Both player groups showed significantly (p < 0.05) smaller ball velocity at release, peak angular velocity of the pelvis, and negative and positive peak angular velocities of the stick than the skilled subject. Normalised ground reaction forces of the gender groups were also smaller than that of the skilled drag-flicker. By comparing these players we established that the cues of the skill level are a wide sta...

The peripheral nerves of the upper extremity are exposed to acute and chronic mechanical injuries in ice hockey players, because of the high repetition of motions, high muscular forces and extreme shoulder positions. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of ice hockey playing on the axillary, musculocutaneous and radial nerves crossing the upper arm region. The ice hockey group consisted of 20 first-division male ice hockey players and the control group consisted of 20 non-active males. The neurophysiological study consisted of motor nerve conduction latency of the axillary, musculocutaneous and radial nerves. The values of distal motor latency (DML) of the axillary, radial and musculocutaneous nerves were significantly prolonged in the ice hockey players compared with the controls. Ice hockey can repetitively stress the upper extremity during shooting, because of forceful throwing to move the puck from the stick blade to the opponent's net. The mechanism of prolonged ...

“‘You’re not a human being, you’re a number, a product, an asset as long as you can perform. If you can’t perform, then you’re a liability and they’ll drop you.’”

Professional athletes suffer tremendous damage to their bodies over the course of their careers. Some literally lose years from their lives because of their injuries. Why do athletes sacrifice themselves? Is it the price of being a professional? Is it all for the fans, or the money? What’s clear is that the physical and emotional tolls of being a professional athlete may not be worthwhile. In Game Misconduct, Nathan Kalman-Lamb takes us into the world of professional hockey players to illustrate how money, consumerism and fandom contribute to the life-altering injuries of professional athletes.

Unlike many critical takes on professional sports, Kalman-Lamb illustrates how the harm suffered by the athlete is a necessary part of what makes professional sport a desirable commodity for the consuming fan. In an economic system — capitalism — that deprives people of meaning because of its inherent drive to turn everyone into individuals and everything into commodities, sports fandom produces a feeling of community. But there is a cost to producing this meaning and community, and it is paid through the sacrifice of the athlete’s body.

Drawing on extensive interviews with fans and former professional hockey players, Kalman-Lamb reveals the troubling dynamics and dangerous costs associated with the world of professional and semi-professional sport.

Kalman-Lamb’s book lends a very important perspective into the microcosm that is sports and what it may be saying about humanity.

— Royce White, NCAA, NBA and NBLC player

Bringing high theory to the hockey rink, Nathan Kalman-Lamb has done what few other critical sports scholars have: write a book that is both scholarly rigorous and accessible to the everyday sports fan. Game Misconduct shines the flood lights on the dark corners of the sports industry. Is another world of sports possible, one free of exploitation, alienation, and the sacrifice of athletic bodies? Read this book and find out for yourself.

— Simon Black, former NCAA athlete and sports columnist for Canadian Dimension magazine

At the heart of professional sports, insists Nathan Kalman-Lamb, is the sacrifice of the athletic body. Wading through a battlefield of injured players, obsessed fans, and profit-hungry owners, Game Misconduct reveals ugly secrets of the sports business. After reading this incisive analysis, none of us will ever watch a sports event in quite the same way—nor should we.

— David McNally, author of Global Slump

Kalman-Lamb’s brilliant, quite moving study of hockey, injury, and identity gives us a model for critical sports studies at their very best.

— Orin Starn, author of The Passion of Tiger Woods: An Anthropologist Reports on Golf, Race, and Celebrity Scandal

A path-breaking book that invites readers into radical analysis by way of the absorbing stories of professional athletes and their fans.

— Alan Sears, author of The Next New Left

Nathan Kalman-Lamb’s eloquent and well-researched book Game Misconduct has has moved the discussion of sport and social inequality to a new terrain.

— Gamal Abdel-Shehid, York University

The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of a repeated-sprint test, specifically designed for field-hockey, as it was based directly on the time–motion analysis of elite level competition. The test consisted of 6 × 30-m over-ground sprints departing on 25 s, with an active recovery (∼3.1–3.3 m s−1) between sprints. Ten highly trained, male, field-hockey players (mean ± S.D.: age, 23 ± 3 years; body mass, 78.1 ± 7.1 kg) participated in this study. Following familiarisation, the subjects performed the repeated-sprint test on two occasions, 7 days apart. The reliability of the test variables was assessed by the typical error of measurement (TE). The total sprint time was very reliable (T1: 26.79 ± 0.76 s versus T2: 26.83 ± 0.74 s), as the TE was 0.7% (95% CL, 0.5–1.2%). However, the percent sprint decrement was less reliable (T1: 5.6 ± 0.9% versus T2: 5.8 ± 1.0%), with the TE being 14.9% (95% CL, 10.8–31.3%). In summary, it is suggested that this field-hockey-specific, repeated-sprint test is very reliable when the results are presented as the total sprint time.

Sports leagues consist of conferences subdivided into divisions. Teams play a number of games within their divisions and fewer games against teams in different divisions and conferences. Usually, a league structure re-mains stable from one season to the next. However, structures change when growth or contraction occurs, and realignment of the four major professional sports leagues in North America has occurred more than twenty-five times since 1967. In this paper, we describe a method for realigning sports leagues that is flexible, adaptive, and that enables construction of schedules that min-imize travel while satisfying other criteria. We do not build schedules; we develop league structures which support the subsequent construction of ef-ficient schedules. Our initial focus is the NHL, which has an urgent need for realignment following the recent move of the Atlanta Thrashers to Win-nipeg, but our methods can be adapted to virtually any situation. We exam-ine a variety of scenario...

Limited information exists about the movement patterns of field-hockey players, especially during elite competition. Time–motion analysis was used to document the movement patterns during an international field-hockey game. In addition, the movement patterns of repeated-sprint activity were investigated, as repeated-sprint ability is considered to be an important fitness component of team-sport performance. Fourteen members of the Australian men's field-hockey team (age 26±3 years, body mass 76.7±5.6 kg, [Vdot]O2max 57.9±3.6 ml · kg−1 · min−1; mean±s) were filmed during an international game and their movement patterns were analysed. The majority of the total player game time was spent in the low-intensity motions of walking, jogging and standing (46.5±8.1, 40.5±7.0 and 7.4±0.9%, respectively). In comparison, the proportions of time spent in striding and sprinting were 4.1±1.1 and 1.5±0.6%, respectively. Our criteria for ‘repeated-sprint’ activity (defined as a minimum of three sprints, with mean recovery duration between sprints of less than 21 s) was met on 17 occasions during the game (total for all players), with a mean 4±1 sprints per bout. On average, 95% of the recovery during the repeated-sprint bouts was of an active nature. In summary, the results suggest that the motion activities of an elite field-hockey competition are similar to those of elite soccer, rugby and Australian Rules football. In addition, the investigation of repeated-sprint activity during competition has provided additional information about the unique physiological demands of elite field-hockey performance.

This study analyzes the anthropometric and physiological characteristics of junior cyclists within different cycling specialties and different performance levels. One hundred and thirty-two junior riders (16.8 ± 0.6 years, 177 ± 6 cm, 66.3 ± 6.7 kg) were tested for anthropometric, aerobic and anaerobic parameters. Cyclists were classified within specialties [uphill (UH) flat terrain (FT) all terrain (AT) and sprint (SP)] and performance levels, based on a seasonal ranking [low level (LL) medium level (ML) and high level (HL)]. The results of the two-way analysis of variance showed that FT and SP have greater body dimensions than UH and AT (P<0.001). Concerning the relative aerobic parameters, AT and UH have higher values (P<0.001) than FT and SP [maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max): 69.4 ± 3.6, 67.5 ± 5.0, 62.8 ± 4.5 and 61.9 ± 4.1 mL/kg/min, respectively] while absolute parameters resulted higher for FT and AT (P≤0.008). The relative power produced in the 5 s test was higher (P<0.001) for AT and SP than FT and UH (16.7 ± 1.1, 16.6 ± 0.6, 14.9 ± 1.7 and 14.4 ± 1.7 W/kg, respectively). Concerning the performance level, only the age and the aerobic parameters resulted differently within levels (VO2max: HL=67.3 ± 4.9, ML=65.5 ± 5.1 and LL=63.3 ± 5.2 mL/kg/min), with the highest values for HL (P≤0.007). In conclusion, juniors are specialized in the same way as professional cyclists and the aerobic characteristics are confirmed as significant in the performance level assessment.

The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) is a commonly administered test used to identify cognitive impairment in geriatric patients. To date, no published studies have examined the relationship between depressive symptoms and performance on the RBANS in older adults. Using a clinical sample of 45 older adults, we found a significant negative correlation between depression scores

The purpose of this study was to conduct a preliminary exploration of creative-thinking preferences of ice hockey players. FourSight: The Breakthrough Thinking Profile is an assessment designed to assist individuals and teams to better understand their approach to problem solving through creative thinking. This qualitative study explored the application of FourSight to a New England Preparatory school ice hockey team identifying if the cognitive and creative preferences translate into on ice behavior. Triangulated data from real game performances, coaching analysis and individual player interviews were gathered to answer the following questions:

Do creative process preferences exist among ice hockey players?

Is there a dominant profile evident by position of play?

In what ways do creativity preferences translate into on ice behavior?

Implications of these findings are discussed as well as limitations and recommendations for future research efforts related to the topic of creative cognition. Beyond adding to the body of knowledge of creativity and athletics, the intersection of these two burgeoning fields may help in leveraging creative-thinking skills in order to enhance team and individual athletic performance.

Recent media coverage and peer-reviewed research has called attention to Canadian minor
hockey, highlighting problematic parent behaviours. The purpose of this study was to explore
negative parental behaviour in Canadian minor hockey through the perspectives of 10 hockey
insiders. Results revealed negative parent behaviours related to stakeholder abuse, excessive
investments and rewards, over-stepping coaching lines, and encouragement of aggression.
Participants provided insight into the motives behind these behaviours including the lure of
professional sport, the hockey hierarchy, parents’ return on hockey investments, and living
vicariously through one’s children. Participants also proposed potential solutions to prevent and
manage these issues including effective parent education programs with targeted curricular
content, and stronger systems for reporting and discipline. Findings are discussed through the
lens of the what, why, and how of negative parental behaviours in youth sport, and
contextualized within the current changing climate of minor hockey in Canada.

The social identities formed through membership on extracurricular activity groups may contribute to the frequency with which youth engage in prosocial and antisocial behavior. However, researchers have yet to disentangle the individual- and group-level processes social identification effects operate through; sex and perceived norms may also moderate such effects. Thus, we investigated the hierarchical and conditional relations between three dimensions of social identity (i.e., ingroup ties, cognitive centrality, ingroup affect) and prosocial and antisocial behavior in youth ice hockey players (N = 376; 33% female). Multilevel analyses demonstrated antisocial teammate and opponent behavior were predicted by cognitive centrality at the team level. Further, prosocial teammate behavior was predicted by cognitive centrality and ingroup ties at the individual-level. Also, perceived norms for prosocial teammate behavior moderated the relations between ingroup ties, cognitive centrality, a...

“Hockey, for me, is the greatest game going. There’s just nothing comparable to the exhilarating feeling of breaking down the ice with the puck, heading in on the goal. You really have a chance to go. I’ve also played baseball, tennis, and golf, but there’s just nothing quite like ice hockey.” – Charles M. Schulz

Growing up in the 1920s and 1930s in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Charles M. Schulz, and his neighborhood buddies would skate in the backyard each winter. His father Carl, a neighborhood barber, would flood the yard and it would freeze into a serviceable skating rink. They also skated and played hockey on area ponds and at parks.

This early exposure to casual and more organized competition brought Schulz enjoyment, a feeling he would go to great lengths to recapture through is life, playing hockey, even until his death in 2000.

Canadian sports commentator Don Cherry is notorious for his outspoken opinions and flamboyant style, both attracting popular attention. This article examines his attention-grabbing on-air style as an extension of both his values for the game of hockey and his view of himself as a working-class boy made good. I argue that Cherry deliberately uses his suits to embody his social and personal values. Drawing on fashion studies approaches, I show that while not exactly fashionable in terms of trendiness, Cherry’s suits are examples of the ability of clothing to be indexical of working-class personality transformed.